Sentence Modifiers

Besides simple verb (and adjective) forms, there are
many different ways to end a sentence, each of which affects
the meaning. Most of these come after the short form of the
sentence. This means the simple short form for verbs,
adjectives, and nouns.

This gets its own section since it doesn't really fit under verb
or adjective conjugation. Entries are sorted by the Japanese
dictionary order
of the variant listed first (where multiple versions exist), which I've
tried to make the most "proper" version.

Certain particles
can also come at the end of a sentence and affect the meaning
somewhat, but they already have their own section, and are
explained there.

Also see the verb
page and adjective
page for endings that are conjugations or that otherwise
specifically apply to verbs or adjectives.

が良い (ga ii, ga yoi)

Should do:

Follow a short form verb with が良い (ga ii
or ga yoi) to advise that the
listener take this action. Depending on speaker and context,
this can be any of giving advice, making imperious demands
or outright threats, or speaking as though laying a curse.
Regardless, this is an archaic usage that rarely appears
outside of fiction, and is always directed at the listener.

There are several similar modern phrases.
～ばいい
(-ba ii), using the provisional form,
has much the same meaning,
but it's not as well suited to making threats or curses.
On the other hand, it can be self-directed, unlike [verb]が良い.
方がいい
(hou ga ii) is another related form,
but more indirect, which tends to make it more polite.

かな (ka na) and かしら (kashira)

I wonder:

These give sort of a "thinking out loud"
impression. Add かな (ka na) to the end
of a sentence in short form, dropping だ (da)
after -na adjectives and nouns. Women
may use the more feminine かしら (kashira),
which also seems to sound more cultured. かしら may additionally
be followed by the ね
(ne) particle, which かな may not.

This sort of wondering often coincides with situations
that call for the のです
(no desu) sentence ending. The
combinations come out as のかな (no ka na)
and のかしら (no kashira).

The ends of such sentences trail off fairly often. This is
usually indicated in writing with an ellipsis (…), though かな
is often has the vowel sound elongated as かなあ or
something similar. It doesn't affect the meaning, just the
pronounciation.

事がある (koto ga aru)

Have done:

To describe something you or someone else has
(or hasn't) done, add 事がある (koto
ga aru) to a short past affirmative verb and
conjugate ある (aru) appropriately. As
often happens, the subject particle
が
(ga) may replaced with
は (wa)
or も (mo)
when appropriate, or simply dropped in casual speech.

If it helps to analyze what's going on here,
事 (koto) is an abstract
generic noun (similar to "concept" or "event"),
so [event] + 事 becomes an occurance of the event. The ある
is then just saying that such an occurance exists (or doesn't).
To be painfully literal, the first example sentence equates to,
"An event exists in which I
went to Japan."

「これからはここで食べない事にします。」
(Kore kara wa koko de tabenai koto ni shimasu)
"I'm choosing not to eat here from now on"
or "I'm going to avoid eating here from now on."

Using the progressive form refers to
something that, rather than a one-time decision, is an ongoing
determination that acts as a regular practice. In other words,
a past decision that continues to affect the present.

事になる (koto ni naru)

Is decided:

Add 事になる (koto ni naru)
to an action to mean that the action is decided on by outside
forces, or that a situation comes to a resulting state.
This is related to 事にする
(koto ni suru),
except that instead of you choosing this outcome, it just sort of
happens.

(from Final Fantasy 6)
「過去のあやまちをくりかえすことになる……」
(Kako no ayamachi wo kurikaesu koto ni naru....)
"We will end up repeating the mistakes of the past...."

(from JGram)
「私は来年大阪へ転勤する事になった 。」
(Watashi wa rainen oosaka e tenkin suru koto ni natta.)
"It was decided that I would transfer to Osaka next year." or
"It wound up that I'm going to transfer to Osaka next year."

Using the progressive form refers
to something decided or established that continues to affect the
present, usually by law, custom, or tradition. This can also be taken
as a "that's just how it is" meaning.

「仕事中で寝ないことになっている。」
(Shigotochuu de nenai koto ni natte iru.)
"It is expected that you won't sleep on the job."

You can also drop everything after
こと (koto)
for much the same effect, but with more of
an impersonal authoritative tone.

「学校には吸わないこと。」
(Gakkou ni wa suwanai koto.)
"You are not to smoke in school."

This そう is not the same as the ～そう (-sou)
adjective ending
(which means something seems to have that trait), or the
～そう
(-sou) verb ending
(which means something seems about to happen any minute).
You can tell the three apart because they are formed
differently—the adjective ending leaves out the
だ for -na adjectives and drops the final
い (i) for -i adjectives,
while the verb ending attaches to the
verb stem
rather than a short form.

つもり (tsumori)

Plans and intentions:

To describe plans or intentions,
add つもり (tsumori) to the short
nonpast
form of a verb. The result then conjugates as a -na adjective. To indicate
plans not to do something, just use the short nonpast negative instead of the
affirmative. Use the past forms of the copula after つもり to indicate past
intentions.

「映画を見るつもりでした。」
(Eiga wo miru tsumori deshita.)
"I meant to to see the movie."

「どういうつもりだ？」
(Dou iu tsumori da?)
"What's the big idea?"

つもり is normally used only in affirmative forms (plans to
not do negate the verb, as explained above), but can be negated
in some situations. Most often this is in an apologetic sense, to
explain that the outcome was not the intent.

「そういうつまりじゃなかったんだ！」
(Sou iu tsumori ja nakatta n da!)
"That's not how I meant it to happen!"

I'm fairly certain that using つもりがない
(tsumori ga nai)
instead indicates a simple lack of intent, rather than planning not
to do something as when using つもり after a negative verb, or
intending something different as when using
つもりじゃない (tsumori ja nai).
For comparison:

Concepts and beliefs:

There's also a subtly different usage, one unintuitive from an
English standpoint, found in such phrases as 分かっているつもり
(wakatte iru tsumori) and 死んだつもりで働く
(shinda tsumori de hataraku).
Here, it's not so much a plan as a state of mind. When
you say 分かっているつもり, the concept is that you
think you understand or have the impression
that you do, whether or not this is actually true. Somewhat similarly,
死んだつもりで働く isn't about actually intending to wind up dead,
but about working so hard that you feel like it's killing you. I'd say the
key point here is that any time there's a つもり, the phrase expresses
what you're thinking about it, rather than necessarily having anything
to do with objective reality. Some examples should help, including
one where both senses overlap:

でしょう (deshou) and だろう (darou)

Tentative form:

でしょう (deshou),
sometimes shortened to でしょ (desho)
when the situation's not too formal, and だろう
(darou), similarly shortened to
だろ (daro) at times,
are the tentative forms of the copula. There's also a literary
form, であろう (de arou). Ending a sentence
with one is used to indicate uncertainty, as when making a guess
or prediction.

This ending follows the short form,
replacing だ (da)
after -na adjectives and nouns.

Archaic tentatives:

The volitional /
hortative conjugation of verbs used to function as a tentative
as well, but this has fallen out of use in the modern language.
The negative tentative, じゃあるまい (ja arumai)
or ではあるまい (de wa arumai),
is similarly very rare. Negatives are now formed
by simply negating the sentence before でしょう or だろう,
as demonstrated above.

Similarly, it's also possible to form a negative tentative by simply
adding ～まい (-mai) to the short nonpast affirmative form of
a verb. However, this form is rare in the modern language, and is
more often a negative volitional even when it does
occur.

In questions:

Yes/no questions may end in a tentative. This most often
occurs when the person speaking expects a positive answer,
but wants confirmation. Using a tentative where not necessary
may also may a question more polite.

「これでいいでしょうか。」
(Kore de ii deshou ka.)
"This will be fine, will it not?"

This form is used when the situation is out of your control,
not when you can decide the outcome. However, you can often
use it when you hope to do something by saying that you hope
to be able to
do it, or that you hope to succeed.

「美術館に行けるといいんだけど。」
(Bijutsukan ni ikeru to ii n da kedo.)
"I hope I'll be able to go to the art museum."

ところ (tokoro)

Though ところ (tokoro)
often means a place, it can also refer to a
situation or point in time, and this more abstract meaning is the
one explained here. The kanji, 所, rarely appears when ところ
is used in this sense.

Just about to do:

When following a short form nonpast affirmative
verb or volitional
form verb + としている (to shite iru),
ところ refers to the
time shortly before the action, meaning that the action is soon
to happen. Be careful of the "place" meaning of
ところ, though, since it can follow a nonpast affirmative just
as easily, but doesn't mean the same thing.

「出かけるところに電話がかかりました。」
(Dekakeru tokoro ni denwa ga kakarimashita.)
"A phone call came just as I was about to walk out the door."

The particle ばかり (bakari)
can also be used to mean the same thing,
but using ところseems to be considerably
more common in modern Japanese.

Just as soon as:

When following a short form past affirmative verb,
ところ refers to the time shortly after the action. Note that
both this time and the action may both be in the future,
despite the use of past tense. As before,
be careful of the "place" meaning of ところ,
since it can follow a past affirmative just as easily,
but doesn't mean the same thing.

「出かけたところに電話がかかりました。」
(Dekaketa tokoro ni denwa ga kakarimashita.)
"A phone call came just as I had walked out the door."

Adding ばかり (bakari)
to a past action has a similar meaning, but it's not quite the same.
I think using ばかり makes the action itself more central to the meaning,
while with ところ it's more of a description of the circumstances.

In this situation:

ところ at the end of a phrase can refer to the situation in
which that is the case. No specific conjugation is required, and
the phrase can end in an adjective, not just a verb. Since ところ
is a noun, follow -na adjectives with
な (na). Once again,
be careful of the "place" meaning of ところ.

The two previous sections are arguably simply special
cases of this meaning (the situation in which the action will
soon occur and the one in which it has just occurred).

「人のいないところで悪口を言わない。」
(Hito no inai tokoro de warukuchi wo iwanai.)
"I don't say nasty things about people
when they aren't there."

どころじゃない (dokoro ja nai)

Not the time for that:

Xどころじゃない (X dokoro ja nai)
means that X is absolutely out of the
question given the situation. Maybe there's just no time for it,
maybe the mood is entirely wrong, but regardless, it's simply not
feasible to consider it at the moment.

どころじゃない comes directly after nouns, verbs and
adjectives. It can also be used to connect two phrases when in
the adverbial form
どころじゃなく (dokoro ja naku)
or linking form
どころじゃなくて (dokoro ja nakute).

With a marginally related meaning, もんか (mon ka)
similarly refuses to do something, but in the sense of objecting to the
action itself, rather than declining because it's not feasible
given the current situation.

Not even close:

どころじゃない may also be a sentence-ending variant
of どころか
(dokoro ka), which indicates that this
isn't even close to expressing the reality of the situation.

とする (to suru)

Making an assumption:

Xとする (X to suru) means
to assume that X is true. する (suru)
conjugates as usual, and often appears in conditional form or provisional
form, or followed by the と (to) particle,
to give an if/then meaning.

「相反している証拠がないので、今のところは窓から入ったとします。」
(Aihan shite iru shouko ga nai no de, ima no tokoro wa mado
kara haitta to shimasu.)
"There's no conflicting evidence, so for now we'll assume he came in through the window."

とは限らない (to wa kagiranai)

Not necessarily:

「難しくないからと言って時間がかからないとは限りません。」
(Muzukashiku nai kara to itte jikan ga kakaranai to wa kagirimasen.)
"Just because something is not difficult, this does not
always mean that it will not take time."

「輝くものすべてが金とは限らない。」
(Kagayaku mono subete ga kin to wa kagiranai.)
"Not all that glitters is gold."(I realize that the saying is "all that glitters is
not gold," but that's inaccurate, or at best ambiguous,
under modern English grammar. It's logically equivalent to
"nothing that glitters is gold," which is incorrect.
The intended meaning is that while some things that glitter
are gold, there are other things that glitter but are not
gold—in other words, something can seem valuable
or desirable, but actually be worthless.)

Also refer to the related からと言って
(kara to itte),
which roughly translates to "just because ... doesn't mean
that ...". These two phrases are found together relatively
often.

のです (no desu),
んです (n desu),
のだ (no da), んだ (n da),
の (no)

Explanatory mode:

It's very common, and not too difficult to understand and
use, but that doesn't mean it's not a pain to explain. In short,
sticking this onto a statement adds an extra dimension to it by
indicating that something else is being implied by context,
often something that is a result of what is actually being said.
When used with questions, it adds a similar implication and
an implied request for explanation and clarification. It can be
difficult to know when to use it, but its presence basically
amounts to letting the listener know they ought to be reading
between the lines.

On the other hand, some characters habitually overuse this
as a quirk of their speaking style to the point that it ceases to have
any real meaning at all. In this case, you can safely ignore it.

This ending attaches to the short form of a sentence, but
follow -na adjectives and nouns with
な (na) instead
of だ (da).

のです (no desu) is sometimes
used rather than んです (n desu), especially
in writing, and のだ (no da) also appears
infrequently in place of んだ (n da).
Questions in casual speech often use の (no)
instead of んだ (n da). Statements may also
end with の rather than んだ, but only in feminine language.

In tentative sentences:

From time to time, you'll see
んでしょう (n deshou),
のでしょう (no deshou),
んだろう (n darou), or
のだろう (no darou).
These are the same thing, but since they end in the
tentative form of the
copula, the
sentence is tentative. Think of a big "probably" or
"maybe" being stuck on the whole thing. Ending a
question with one of these makes the question more indirect,
or perhaps gives it a sense of idle musing or being at a total
loss.

You can also get a similar effect by using negative forms of
the copula instead of the tentative forms, such as んじゃない
(n ja nai).
Using んじゃない on a question seems to imply that
the situation appears to disagree with what the assumed truth is,
while んだろう has no such implication. That may not be the
best way to explain it, but hopefully some examples will help:

ばかり (bakari)

Just did:

To say that an action has just happened, follow a short
past affirmative
verb with ばかり (bakari).
It might be gramatically possible to use the negative past,
but I can't think of any situation in which that
would make any sense.

「食べたばかり」
(tabeta bakari)
"just ate"

「生まれたばかりの赤ちゃん」
(umareta bakari no akachan)
"baby that was just born"

Adding ところ
(tokoro) to a past action
has a similar meaning, but it's not quite the same. I think using
ばかり makes the action itself more central to the meaning, while
with ところ it's more of a description of the circumstances.

Not to be confused with:

The particle ばかり
(bakari) follows nouns,
-te form verbs, and so on, and gives an impression
of something being overwhelmingly common, frequent, etc.

The longer ばかりでなく (bakari de naku)
and ばかりか (bakari ka) are variants on
the particle and translate to "not just... but also"

There are two different meanings for the phrase
ばかりに (bakari ni).
One is roughly "just because" and,
like ばかり here, usually comes after a short past affirmative
verb. The other roughly means "as if to do"
and usually appears in phrases such as 言わんばかりに
(iwan bakari ni).

はず (hazu)

Presumptions:

はず, sometimes written in kanji as 筈, indicates
that you have every reason to believe something is true, but
lack concrete proof. This is equivalent to "should"
as commonly used when describing something from memory
("there should be a green button on the side").

Looking at the first example, it's important to note that this
does not mean that it's a good idea for the store to be
open, or that the store has some obligation to be open, just that you
expect it to be and have no reason to believe otherwise.

In past tense:

Tense can get confusing, because the past tense can come
both before and after はず, with different meanings depending on
which one it is. If the past tense comes before はず, it's part of the
sentence being modified, which means that the sentence is in past
tense (and you have every reason to believe that it has happened,
but no proof).

On the other hand, if the past tense comes after はず, that
means that though it was supposed to be the case, more recent
information shows otherwise. This information is often given as
part of the sentence.

In the negative:

はず sentences can also be negated. Since はず is
a noun, follow it with the subject particle が (ga) or
the topic particle は
(wa) before adding a negative form
of the existence verb ある (aru) to the end.
There doesn't seem to be any particular
reason to use either one over the other, but this may be related
to the spontaneous appearance of は in negative sentences
(refer to the particle). Regardless, since using はず means you
have no reason to believe otherwise, はずはない indicates
that you have every reason to believe otherwise.

「面白いはずがありません。」
(Omoshiroi hazu ga arimasen.)
"I have no expectation that it will be interesting."

「そんなはずはない！」
(Sonna hazu wa nai!)
"Such a thing should not be so!"

The second use of はず demonstrated above doesn't really
have a good English equivalent. In a situation where a Japanese
speaker would say that, an English speaker would probably say
something similar to "That can't be right!" instead.

べき (beki), べし (beshi),
べく (beku), べからず (bekarazu)

Ought to do:

Where はず
(hazu) equates to "should"
in the sense of expecting something to be true, べき equates
to "should" in the sense of having some social
or moral obligation to be that way.

べき follows short-form verbs. A phrase ending in べき can
also modify a noun, since べき itself is an adjective, the classical
Japanese equivalent of modern -i adjectives.
However, べき is nearly always followed by at least だ (da) at the
end of a sentence, even when the copula would normally be
omitted. Finally, すべき (subeki) often
appears instead of するべき (suru beki),
retaning an archaic conjugation.

For those interested, classical Japanese distinguished
between the sentence-final form and the pre-noun form for verbs
and adjectives. べき is the pre-noun form, which is presumably
why there's such reluctance to put べき at the end of a sentence
without at least a だ. The corresponding sentence-final form is
べし (beshi), but it appears only very rarely
in modern Japanese.

(from Final Fantasy VI)
「この世に守るべき人がいるかぎり、俺は戦うぜ。」
(Kono yo ni mamoru beki hito ga iru kagiri, ore wa tatakau ze.)
"I'll fight as long as there's anyone in this world to protect."
(any people I must protect)

(sample sentence from goo dictionary)
「コートを置くべき場所を探した。」
(KOUTO wo oku beki basho wo sagashita.)
"I looked for a place to put my coat."
(specifically, an appropriate or
proper place as opposed to just
dumping it anywhere that has room for it)

For the negative equivalent, any of the more modern
べきじゃない (beki ja nai) and the more
archaic sentence-final べからず (bekarazu)
and pre-noun べからざる (bekarazaru)
may appear.

「行くべからざる所へ行くべからず。」
(Iku bekarazaru tokoro e iku bekarazu.)
"One must not go where
one must not go."

Potentiality:

Yet another variant is the connective form
べく (beku). Though it can be used with
the above meaning, it's more often used in a different sense of the
base adjective べし, one that indicates the possibility of an action
rather than the need for it. A phrase in the form XべくY means
that Y is required in order for X to be possible. The other
forms of べし may also be used to mean that something is
possible, but appear only extremely rarely in modern
Japanese, though this usage isn't particularly common,
either.

It may help to think of this as Y in order to X, even
though it's a bit more complicated than that, probably more
like Y because of intending X. Alternately, you could consider
X as being a need (in a looser sense than being mandatory)
that Y helps to fulfill.

As with すべき (subeki),
すべく (subeku) has a good
chance of appearing rather than
するべく (suru beku).

「医者になるべく一生懸命勉強しました。」
(Isha ni naru beku isshoukenmei benkyou shimashita.)
"I studied with the utmost effort so that I could
become a doctor."

Note that, at least in some cases, this can still be safely
interpreted in the first sense. Bannan, Egdar, and Tina flee to
Narshe through the rapids in order to be able to escape the
Empire, but escaping is also, in a sense, a duty they have.

More modern conversational language, at least,
generally prefers to use different grammar with similar
meanings, such as a volitional form verb +
として (to shite):

方がいい (hou ga ii)

Ought to do:

To say that something ought to be done, or is
advisable to do, add 方がいい (hou ga ii)
to a short past affirmative verb. To say that
something ought not be done, or is inadvisable, add 方がいい
to the short nonpast
negative. 方 may also be written in kana as ほう. Notice
that, for whatever reason, the past tense is used for positives
and the nonpast for negatives.

Better or best of alternatives:

The above usage with verbs represents a specific,
semi-idiomatic use of the more general meaning of X方がいい
(X hou ga ii), which says that X is better
than not X. 方 is a noun (roughly meaning "alternative"),
so use the rules for noun
modification. The specific less preferable alternatives may
either be implied or listed and marked with より (yori),
often coming between が (ga)
and いい (ii).

Other adjectives may appear instead of いい, but then
it's not "better" anymore, instead becoming whatever
trait corresponds to the adjective used. X方が強い
(X hou ga tsuyoi) would mean
"X is stronger," for instance.

までもない (made mo nai)

No effort necessary:

One of the more common expressions the particle
まで
(made) appears in, までもない
(made mo nai) expresses the idea
that there's no reason to go that far or to that much trouble.

「言うまでもない」
(iu made mo nai)
"it goes without saying" (there's no
reason to go to the trouble of saying it)

(from Do As Infinity's 君がいない未来)
「守るべきものなんて
悩むまでもなく一つしかなかった」
(Mamoru beki mono nante
Nayamu made mo naku hitotsu shika nakatta)
"What had I to protect? No need to
mull it over; there was but one answer."

もの (mono), もん (mon)

Explanatory with feeling:

Typically a more childish or feminine usage, adding
もの (mono) or the more colloquial
もん (mon) to the end of a sentence
makes the sentence explanatory, somewhat similar to adding
のです
(no desu) or one of its variants
(though they may also appear together).
This apparently implies an emotional
or "just because" reason rather than a logical
or rational one, and also normally carries a sense of
petulant annoyance, protest, or complaint.

This usage of もの and もん comes after the
copula,
not before as most others do. Don't reverse them, or you'll
often get an unrelated meaning, generally with in もの meaning
"object" (as 物) or "person" (as 者):

Also refer to the form ～てたまる
(-te tamaru),
which can express a similar sentiment
and may be paired with もんか.

「やられてたまるもんか！」
(Yararete tamaru mon ka!)
"I'll be damned if I go down without a fight!"

With a marginally related meaning, どころじゃない
(dokoro ja nai)
similarly refuses to do something, but in
the sense of it not being feasible given the current situation,
rather than because of an objection to the action itself.

みたい (mitai) and よう (you)

Seems as though:

Add みたい (mitai) or
よう (you) to the end of a
sentence to say that it seems to be the case. When following
nouns, they more specifically refer to a resemblance to that noun.
Both are -na adjectives, and can modify nouns by
adding な (na) to the end. While they can follow
adjectives, those more often use the
～そう
(-sou) adjective ending,
which means essentially the same thing.

よう (infrequently written in kanji as 様) attaches directly
to verbs and -i adjectives. -na adjectives
must be followed by な (na) and nouns by の (no).

ようにする (you ni suru)

Making an effort:

ようにする (you ni suru)
expresses trying in the sense of making an effort to do
something. よう (you) is a noun,
sometimes written in kanji as 様, so put the verb before
it in short form, and that's all there is to do.

「二度としないようにします。」
(Nido to shinai you ni shimasu.) =
"I'll make an effort to avoid ever doing it again."

「毎朝７時までに起きるようにしている。」
(Maiasa shichiji made ni okiru you ni shite iru.) =
"I try to get up by 7 every morning."

See also the volitional form,
which has a usage that means essentially the same
thing as this.

For trying in the sense of experimentation
to see what happens, see the ～てみる
(-te miru) verb form.

らしい (rashii)

What I've heard makes it sound like:

らしい (rashii)
at the end of a sentence indicates
that it's your best guess based on what you've heard from
others, or other secondhand information that isn't enough
to make a definitive conclusion. This can be related to,
but is not the same as, the そうです (sou desu)
ending, which simply reports what you've heard and makes
no conclusions. らしい attaches directly to nouns, short-form
verbs, -i adjectives, and -na adjectives
without the な (na).

As with そうです, you can give the source, when you're
basing your conclusion on what someone said, by using
によると
(ni yoru to) or によれば
(ni yoreba), which mean
"according to". In casual speech, it's enough
to mention the source and pause briefly.

I find that "apparently" and
"supposedly" are often good translations
of らしい.

(from Final Fantasy IV, kanji added as appropriate)
「どうやら記憶喪失のところをバロンに利用されていたらしいのう。」
(Douyara kioku soushitsu no tokoro wo BARON ni riyou sarete ita rashii nou.)
"It would appear that
he had amnesia that was taken advantage of by Baron."(If you're familiar with the context—Yang,
a former ally but now amnesiac, just attacked our
heroes on behalf of Baron—this might not seem
to fit with the concept of secondhand information, since they
clearly just experienced the attack firsthand. That by itself
isn't enough to prove what happened, though; it's merely
the result of whatever unknown events have already
occurred. The attack itself gives secondhand information
about these unknown events.)

Not to be confused with:

There's a different らしい that attaches directly
to nouns and (occassionally) adjectives and verbs.
The resulting compound is an -i adjective
that basically describes what is normal, in character,
or consistent with the assumption of the base word
or phrase.